Tao Bang Huy, deputy head of the Employment
Administration under Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA),
said a programme to collect labour information was piloted in four provinces in
2008. In 2009, this was expanded to 15 other provinces and a year later, to the
rest of the country.

The programme aimed to establish a database
of labour supply, workers’ professional qualifications and employment demand.
It would update information about changes in occupational status and training
undergone by workers. This database was to serve as a foundation for provinces
to prepare their socioeconomic development plans and manage human resources.

After eight years of implementation, labour
information on all 63 provinces and cities has been added to the database,
covering about 45 million workers, labour demand and other information from
311,115 entrepreneurs and businesses, as well as 5,095 non-agricultural
cooperatives.

Although the database is a promising
initiative, its implementation has been obstructed by shortages of financial
and human resources. Despite the continuous changes happening in Vietnam’s
labour market, functional agencies, including the labour ministry only update
the database once a year.

Furthermore, the data focuses mostly on
official labour, not covering the informal sector, freelancers, farm workers
and so on.

Doan Mau Diep, Deputy Minister of MOLISA,
said that labour market management was one of the ministry’s major focuses. A
comprehensive evaluation of labour supply and demand will help orient, improve
and balance the nation’s workforce, he said.

However, Diep also said that there were
limitations in the data collecting process that led to low accuracy and slow
updates, contributing to imbalances in the labour market and rising
unemployment.

“The programme only collects data for some
professions. Non-agricultural cooperatives, for example, have not been targeted
by the programme,” Diep said.

“In our province, the supply – demand
connection happens on employment exchanges and websites. These have not been
effective, since they depend heavily on proactive employers and employees (who
are willing to supply information and updates on a regular basis),” she said.

She also felt that in order to sustainably
reduce unemployment, long-term labour market forecasts, five to 10 years, were
needed. However most Vietnamese companies did not have a long-term human
resources development strategy, she added.

He said: “In the near future, besides
innovations in data collection, the quality of labour market information also
needs to be improved. Reliable and extensive data is the foundation for making
accurate forecasts.” – VNA